Insurance Initiative Fails to Qualify for Ballot

An initiative that would have ended the practice of charging more for auto insurance in poor, inner-city areas than anywhere else will not qualify for the November ballot, its coordinator said Friday.

Retired congressional aide Adam Burton, who ran the initiative campaign to eliminate the so-called territorial rating system, said 273,800 petition signatures had been obtained by last Monday, when the 150-day period authorized under state law for collecting them expired. But the number of registered voter signatures gathered fell nearly 100,000 short of the 372,178 required to qualify initiatives for the general election ballot.

Burton said he and his organization, Fair Affordable Insurance Rates, will now make a limited endorsement of one of the four other proposed auto insurance initiatives currently being circulated--the Voter Revolt initiative supported by consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

Has Concerns

Burton said he is concerned that the Voter Revolt initiative, which calls for a rollback of up to 40% in auto insurance premiums, may not withstand a court test if it is passed, and he does not agree with its provision for an elected state insurance commissioner.

But, he said, he considers it the only insurance initiative being circulated that is pro-consumer.

Burton blasted other initiatives being backed either by the insurance industry or the California Trial Lawyers Assn. as representing selfish interests that would not benefit consumers.

Burton’s initiative had the endorsements of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and the chairman of the state Senate Insurance Committee, Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys).

However, none of the politicians put really substantial money into the qualification drive. Burton said he had only $60,000 to spend on volunteer efforts to collect signatures. Successful qualification campaigns often cost between $300,000 and $400,000 and usually employ paid circulators.

Winning Support

Burton’s limited endorsement of the Nader-backed initiative was yet another sign that it is winning more support from consumer activists in the minority communities than the initiative offered by the Insurance Consumer Action Network and backed by the California Trial Lawyers Assn.

Further evidence of this trend came Friday when Spencer Wiley, executive director of the South Los Angeles-based Citizens Against Discrimination of Auto Insurance, said his board has recommended an endorsement of the Nader initiative to the full membership and it is expected to be voted next week.

The other initiatives began circulation efforts later and have until late May or early June to get the needed signatures.